The path of least resistance
by SageK
Summary: Continues from my previous fic "The quickest way of ending a war is to lose it."


She started the day pissed off, quickly became nervous for the health of her baby, followed by a rapid transition into fear when the V healer grabbed her. Then Ryan, the reason she was mad in the first place, showed up and somehow disintegrated the handsy V doctor before hustling her from the clinic in a confused rush.

Valerie Stevens was an intelligent, modern woman, but she was scared and, despite the fact that she was still madder than hell, she trusted Ryan not to hurt her or their child. So she had let him usher her into his car and accepted his promise to explain once they reached someplace safe.

Someplace safe, by Ryan's definition, turned out to be a dark, dirty, smelly basement with a rickety staircase that she was not happy to use. She knew one thing: Ryan was so not going to be in charge of baby proofing the house.

"What is this…?" she began, then a particular something caught her eye. "Why is there a man hanging from the ceiling?"

Indeed there was a man suspended by his bound wrists from what looked like a meat hook. A scowling, dark haired man peered around the dangling form, eyes narrowed as he tossed Ryan a nod. A blond couple, the woman armed with a gun, stood at the mouth of what looked to be a small nook, both relaxing as they noted Ryan's presence as well.

Good for them, cause Valerie was anything but relaxed. Grabbing Ryan's arm, she demanded, "What is this place? Who are these people? And, cause this bears repeating, THERE IS A MAN HANGING FROM THE CEILING!"

The dangling form chuckled, prompting Scowly to punch the man in the stomach. Ryan sighed, while the blond woman rolled her eyes and the blond man asked, "Was that really necessary?"

Scowly shrugged. "You ought to give it a try, Padre. Cathartic."

Ignoring them for a moment, Ryan led her over to a chair and sat her down, Crouching before her, he said, "I know things seem crazy and what I'm about to say is going to seem…."

"I jus saw you stick make a V go 'poof!'," Val interrupted him, jabbing a finger in his face. "There are Alien ships hovering over head. What is going to seem so unbelievable after all of that?"

Ryan's face set into the expression she knew he only wore when he was about to say something he didn't want to say. He glanced over to where the blonds had been, but they had moved over to the tiny kitchenette, backs politely turned in order to afford them some privacy. Scowly had no such sense of manners, settling into a chair of his own as though preparing to watch a show. Ceiling guy continued to hang there.

"Val," Ryan began very seriously, taking her hands in his own. "Val, the V's aren't what they seem. We don't know exactly what Anna's plans are, but they aren't good. Now, I know this because we're part of the Fifth Column, the resistance, but more so because I'm…I'm not human."

"If you're going to lie at least make it believable," she snapped, yanking her hands away from him. "Honestly, telling me you're…an…alien…."

Her voice trailed off as he raised his hands to his face and pulled one of his eye lids wide. As she watched, one of Ryan's beautiful, brown eyes seemed to roll back into his skull, revealing a yellow iris with a black, slit like, vertical pupil.

She blinked, then, from seemingly far away, she heard Scowly say, "Freaky, isn't it?", before her vision turned grey and someone turned out the lights.

When she was capable of conscious thought again, she realized she was bent over, head between her knees and there was a gentle, unfamiliar hand on her back. Someone was beside her, saying, in a calm, soothing voice, "That's it. Breath. You're fine."

After a minute or so of that, she sat up, assisted by the blond guy. He peered at her with a mix of compassion and concern, catching one of her wrists and checking her pulse as he asked, "How are you feeling?"

Looking from him, to Ryan and back, she asked, "Did that really happen?" He might have been a stranger, but so far his blue eyes had stayed blue.

"Yes," he told her, releasing her wrist, apparently satisfied. Handing her a bottle of water, he asked, "Would you like some Tea?"

Clutching the bottle to her chest, she nodded and, with a supportive pat to her shoulder, he rejoined the blond woman, leaving her alone with her fiancée…who was apparently an alien.

Great. Here she'd been thinking he'd had an affair or had some secret family stashed away somewhere, but no, nothing that simple. He had to be an alien…actually, she found that idea preferable to the notion that he'd been cheating on her.

Except…Oh God, her baby was half alien. She'd seen enough sci-fi movies to know that rarely ended well.

Her hands flew to her belly and Ryan said, "I'm sorry, Val. I never thought…."

"You're an alien," she interrupted. "A V."

"Yes," he nodded. "Anna's been secretly sending V's here for nearly 20 years. A precursor to their arrival. Some of us rebelled though and have been trying to take a stand against her. We're called the Fifth Column."

"Now, humans are fighting by our side," He waved a hand to indicate the three free roaming people in the room. "And against us." He pointed at the man hanging from the ceiling. "He's been assassinating members of our group."

That sent a shiver down Val's spine. She'd never knowingly been in a room with a killer before. It was a little eerie. "But the V's are helping. Disaster relief, healing centers…."

He shook his head. "We don't know what the endgame is, but they're using the healing centers to tag anyone treated there with a tracker, claiming it's a vitamin shot."

"No!" Val gasped, hand flying to her arm. "That healer gave me a booster right before you arrived!"

"It's okay. He's dead," Ryan assured her. "No one else has a reason to use it to find you. Dr. Pearlman is working on a way to neutralize its signal."

The blond man approached again and pressed a warm mug into her hand. Kindly smiling, he offered, "They gave me the shot too and so far it hasn't been a problem."

Val looked at him. ""If the V's are so bad, why did you go to one of the centers?

His face fell and the blond woman spoke up. "It wasn't his choice. A V assassin stabbed him and someone else chose to take him there instead of to a hospital."

Why does she look so familiar? Val wondered before asking, "Does the shot do anything else?"

"Not as far as we know," Ryan said, then proceeded to fill her in on a lot of things. By the time he was done, she was feeling overwhelmed. She also knew that Scowly was named Kyle Hobbes, a mercenary and the blonds were Erica Evans, FBI agent and mother of one of Val's patients (Awkward) and Father Jack Landry, Catholic priest.

Landry and Evans shared how they'd come to join the resistance and Valerie was comforted to know she wasn't the only one feeling completely out of her depth. After all, she was a psychiatrist, not a freedom fighter.

When asked his motivations, Hobbes just snorted and said, "Let's just say I'm not going to be first in line to say welcome to our new, evil alien overlords."

That comment prompted the bound assassin to let out a disgruntled sound. "Oh please, this resistance is pathetic. Fighting is just going to get a lot of people killed."

"Shut the hell up!" Hobbes snarled, stalking towards him, but Evans beat him to the punch by slapping a thick strip of silvery duct tape over the man's mouth.

"I hate to bring this up," Father Jack said, looking unhappily at the now muffled man. "But…what exactly are we going to do with him?"

Hobbes waved his hand dismissively. "Don't you worry about that, Padre. I'll take care of him."

Agent Evans clearly did not like the sound of that reply and said, "No killing, Hobbes. I'm serious."

"Oh, why don't you just tie my hands behind my back," the mercenary mumbled, and Val's eyes widened because she couldn't tell if he was being sarcastic or not. Evans glared at him while Ryan closed his eyes and scrubbed a weary hand over his face.

Catching her eye, Father Jack offered her a fake, faintly sick smile and said, "He's kidding. Really…I hope."

Valerie raised a brow in disbelief. After everything she'd just learned, she wasn't about to discount anything. The world as she knew it had changed once again. She just hoped they'd all survive.


End file.
